Red Closet : The Hidden History of Gay Oppression in the USSR / Rustam Alexander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alexander, Rustam, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gay men.

Homophobia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, [2023]

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

data file

Biography/History:

Rustam Alexander is a historian and independent scholar who obtained his PhD from the University of Melbourne. He is the author of Regulating Homosexuality in Soviet Russia, 1956 --91: A Different History.

Summary:

In 1934, Joseph Stalin enacted sodomy laws, unleashing a wave of brutal detentions of homosexual men in large Soviet cities. Rustam Alexander recounts the compelling stories of people whose lives were directly affected by those laws, including a naïve Scottish journalist based in Moscow who dared to write to Stalin in an attempt to save his lover from prosecution, and a homosexual theatre student who came to Moscow in pursuit of a career amid Stalin's harsh repressions and mass arrests. We also meet a fearless doctor in Siberia who provided medical treatment for gay men at his own peril, and a much-loved Soviet singer who hid his homosexuality from the secret police. Each vignette helps paint the hitherto unknown picture of how Soviet oppression of gay people originated and was perpetuated from Stalin's rule until the demise of the USSR. This book comes at a time when homophobia is again rearing its ugly head under Putin's rule.

Contents:

Part I: Under Stalin

Stalin decides to make male homosexuality a crime

A Scottish man stands up for the rights of Soviet homosexuals

A young man from Siberia comes to Moscow in pursuit of his dreams

A Soviet celebrity leads a double life and lives in quiet suffering

A visit to a bathhouse ends in a nightmare

Soviet homosexuals travel to Siberia for "medical treatment"

Part II: Under Khrushchev

Stalin's heirs deal with homosexuality in the GULAG

In which a murder occurs

Soviet jurists push for the decriminalization of sodomy

Soviet psychiatrists try to cure lesbianism

A KGB lieutenant goes rogue

Soviet doctors invent a new medical science and try to cure male homosexuality

Part III: Under Brezhnev

Soviet jurists try to decriminalize consensual homosexuality

A couple try to save their marriage

Yan Goland tries to cure a youth of his homosexuality

A jurist proposes to criminalize lesbianism

A former soldier is crippled with internalized homophobia

In which we learn about emerging gay activism in the USSR

Part IV: Under Gorbachev

A strange patient from Africa baffles Soviet doctors

Soviet officials try to protect the USSR from AIDS

The Soviet KGB becomes inspired by the American gay press

Soviet doctors find Soviet "Patient Zero"

Soviet homophobia hits its peak

Soviet homosexuals finally speak about themselves in public

Epilogue: In which Boris Yeltsin decriminalizes consensual homosexuality, but homophobia remains.

Notes:

Description based on publisher-supplied metadata and e-publication viewed on August 11, 2023.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781526167446

1526167441

9781526167460

1526167468

OCLC:

1388641525